Under an Orange Sky
by timelady1210
Summary: THE FALL What happens when Augustine bites into an orange and whisks herself and her friends Faye and Paige to a distant desert that August recognizes from the movie she just saw? Read to find out! Sorry bad summary but it gets better! Eventual AU
1. A Bite of Orange

Hey guys!! This is a fic for/from my new favorite movie, The Fall. I schemed up this idea a few days before I saw the movie, and seeing it helped me out considerably, except I've only gotten to see it once, so for those of you who have seen it/are about to see it/intend to see it, sorry if I miss some bitty details. And no, I won't be carrying it out a hundred percent like the movie, cos the ending was not how I woulda liked it, so ye shall see an alternate ending! I hope you like, regardless of it all!! T rating for language right now, but inevitably there'll be some serious fighting, or at least as serious as I can muster...

disclaimer: don't own The Fall, or anything in relation to it. If I did, I'd be one happy fangirl! Oh my gosh I just admitted I'm a fangirl... this story could go horrendously wrong! but I doubt it! Also, don't own Jonas Brothers (just a random little reference, don't leave me just for that!!)

A/N: chapter two explains a whole lot more, and that's definitely going up tomorrow (GregsLabrat kept nudging me to post already, so post already I did). Alright already, ENJOY!!

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It was a warm summer day as I sat with my friends in the shade of Faye's living room, distracting ourselves from the heat with whatever we could find; Faye, a magazine; Paige, a notebook and pencil; and myself, cardboard and string.

"August, what are you doing?"

"Making a mask."

"Masks aren't square, stupid."

"Bite me," I retorted, sticking my tongue out at Faye.

"You know where," she sighed, not bothering to look up at me from her magazine or flick her hair with sass like she always did following that reply.

"And why's it red?" Paige asked with a wrinkled nose. "If it's not a masquerade mask then it should be black and rounded, like Zorro's--"

"Whose side are you on?" I demanded with a harsh scowl.

"Mine," she replied waspishly with an air of finality, yet she betrayed her cover by asking "But seriously, why's it red?"

I flushed, mumbling out an incoherent reply.

"For human ears, I think she means, Augustine," Faye said pointedly. I stuck my tongue out at her again, to which she replied with an innocent beam.

"It's from the movie I saw the other day," I told them with a sheepish squeak as I started coloring the cardboard mask with a red Sharpie. "Faye, remember that movie I told you about a few weeks ago? The Fall? It's that one."

"And where does the mask fit in?"

I flushed deeper. "It's the Masked Bandit's."

"Oh, cos that's an original name," Faye said sarcastically.

"Hey!" I objected, hurt. "It was a bedridden stuntman telling a six-year-old a fancy story so she'd do something for him! The plot of the movie is a hell of a lot more important than a character's name, main hero or no." I grinned to myself as I tied bits of red yarn to the edges of the cardboard. "Besides, bandits are already badass-awesome, so there's not that much need to dull their title with a proper name."

"Obsessed-much," Fay said in a light sing-song voice.

"Hey, two words for you, sister: Jonas Brothers. Like you're the one to talk."

"That doesn't count, though, cos you like Kevin," she rebutted. I shook my head.

"No, you wrote me to like him, so it doesn't count," I countered, making sure she caught the wink and teasing glint in my eye.

"Whatever," she retorted, clicking her tongue.

"ANYways," Paige cut in curtly before Faye could object further. "What is it he wants her to do for him?"

"I'm not telling!" I objected. "It'll ruin the movie for when I force it upon you! So in the meantime you must make due with trailers and clips and me," I finished with a rueful shrug before donning the mask with a sly grin.

"Enough!" Faye exclaimed, flinging her magazine away and getting to her feet. "I have oranges. Anyone want an orange? I want an orange," and with that strode her way into the kitchen. I rolled my eyes - which I figured would be impossible to notice, I thought happily - and started absent-mindedly scratching at my faded henna stars on my arm.

"Faye, still got your henna tattoos?" I called out.

"No, not really. Paige? Orange?" she offered, brushing my question aside.

"Sounds good." Faye tossed her one.

"August?"

"I don't like oranges," I replied, making a face. "I'm good."

"What's wrong with you?" Paige teased incredulously. I raised an eyebrow at her.

"You really need to ask?"

She shrugged in assent. "True."

Faye clicked her tongue again, shaking her head at me as she returned to her chair. "You're missing out. These are some good oranges."

"That's nice, but since when do I trust your word on anything?" I asked ruefully.

"Ouch!" Paige chortled, peeling away the skin of her orange and setting the fragments in a pile upon the arm of her chair. Turning back to blankly watch Faye disassemble her fruit, and not seeing me do this cast a sly glance at Paige, and as Faye picked a slice free I felt the force of my friend thud into my back and twist my arms into a useless knot behind me.

"What the hell, Marr?" I demanded, squirming and twisting to try and break free, but alas resistance was futile. Faye lunged at me and came to sit upon my knees, quelling my chances of escape even further.

"Open wide for the sailboat!" Faye squeaked in a baby voice, slowly advancing the slice to my mouth.

"I don't think so!" I exclaimed through gritted teeth. "So get off me!"

"Oh, but you sooo want one," Paige encouraged, and I could hear the pent-up laughter in her voice.

"But I sooo don't - no, not fair!" I squealed as Faye started jabbing fingers into my side, making me squirm and giggle anew.

"Just eat the bloody orange, August!" exclaimed Paige, and for a brief moment I forgot to keep my teeth clenched so as I opened my mouth to retort again Faye jabbed in the piece of orange and gave me a good sharp poke, making shut my jaw sharply and bite into the fruit. Now, following this all I expected was orange juice to dribble down my chin and Faye to crow out a victory cry, so all three of us were quite freaked out to find, inexplicably, we were now sitting upon a stretch of hot sand. We all jerked away from each other and scrambled to our feet, refusing to take in the colorless dunes and cloudless azure sky.

"Is it just me, or are we all of a sudden not in Faye's living room?" Paige asked slowly, eyes glued to the horizon.

"Nope, not just you, we're not there anymore," Faye confirmed in a rush, slowly turning in place to survey the foreign landscape.

I myself was rendered speechless, which wasn't that hard to do, but still. We were standing upon a fairly wide strip of land, flanked on both sides by mirror-smooth pools of water, shallow by us but deeper and darker blue the further out I looked. The flat valley was bordered by large sand-brown hills, too small to me mountains yet too large to be mere knolls, etched and jagged from wind and time. At the tapered end of the catwalk stood a black tree, barren whippet branches curled directly for the sky, and it wasn't until looking at this facet of the landscape did the hair on the back of my neck shiver.

"Guys, I recognize this tree," I deadpanned, and they spun around immediately.

"What do you mean, you recognize the tree?" Paige demanded, and flitting my eyes between the two of them was almost frightened by the ferocity in their eyes.

"This is probably nothing cos we're all panicked and freaking out and--"

"Damn it, August, out with it!" Faye snapped.

"It's in the movie," I blurted out, then repeated more slowly "The tree, it's in the movie. I know it sounds incredibly stupid and all, but think about it. Realistically, could a proper tree survive or look in this condition in any desert? And see? There's no plants or reeds or anything growing by the water. There's no logical reason why this tree should be here, yet I recognize it, I recognize all of it, the land and the sky and the clouds."

We all knew this theory was quite unlikely, yet equally as unlikely were the chances of me eating an orange and along with two others get whisked off to some very-distant desert, so at this rate anything was possible.

"We're in The Fall?" Faye asked quietly, voice no louder than the sanded winds.

I nodded. "We're in The Fall."


	2. The Seeds of the Plot are Sown

A/N: For those of you who have seen The Fall (which I'm pretty sure is none, judging by hits and reviewes thus far) you can pretty much skip to the very end of the chapter, cos it's just a catch-up for those who DON'T know the story, so yeah. Otherwise, enjoy! Review and lemme know what you think! (GregsLabrat, keep doin' what you're doin'!)

Disclaimer: still own none of this... alas...

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Paige gave a hollow laugh. "How very Pleasantville."

"Minus the location, spot on," I snorted wryly.

"So what does this mean, we're in The Fall?" Faye asked quietly.

"Before you spoil the plot, can we sit in the shade first? I'm gonna explode," Paige asked, brows pinched in discomfort.

"Forget just the shade, I'm sitting in the water first," I told them, and not until we were all thoroughly soaked did we curl up in the shade of the tree.

"So spill," Faye sighed. "What happens in this movie of yours? And, right now, just the relevant bits, please."

"No guarantees," I started wryly, but she gave me one of her 'I dare you' looks, and I knew she'd make me suffer, so I behaved.

"Alright, so there's five of them: the Indian, the ex-slave, the explosives expert, Charles Darwin, and the Masked Bandit," I explained, tapping my slightly-dampened cardboard mask. "They're all completely unrelated except for the fact that they're stuck on the same island – Butterfly Reef – and exiled by the same man they've all vowed to kill – Governor Odious."

"Dunno if it's the water and breeze combo, but that just gave me shivers," Paige commented, absently rubbing her arms. "So, this Odious, is he bad?"

I smiled, a twisted little half-smile as a shiver shot down my spine. "Oh yeah. He wronged them all, morally, humanely, everything. Governor Odious is a bad man."

"What'd be do to all of 'em?" asked Faye, showing obvious interest. I took this as a victory.

"Let's see… the Indian, he had the most beautiful wife, the most gorgeous woman you could imagine. Now, of course Odious wanted to see this lovely face for himself and had her brought to him, but ever faithful to her husband she hid her face whenever he looked her way. This angered Odious immensely, so he had her put in his labyrinth, as temporary or eternal punishment I don't remember, perhaps just until she found her way out. Eventually she did find that there was a way out: at the foot of the tallest tower," I finished quietly.

"But then what happened?" Paige pressed. "If she found the way out…" She glanced between Faye and myself until the pinch in her brow smoothed before cutting short her inquiry with a soft "Oh."

"The ex-slave worked on one of Odious' plantations with his brother, making them toil in all types of weather and cruel conditions and the like. One swelteringly hot day they were working, and his brother dropped dead from the heat and over-exertion. He burned down the crops and swore revenge."

"Seriously? How's he getting away with all this? How's no one tried to bring him down before?" Faye asked.

"I dunno," I shrugged. "It was just from a story that the stuntman apparently made up on the spot, so he didn't' have as much time to work on the details. Besides, the guy he styled Odious after, he didn't really like, so why bother giving someone you despise any chance for redemption or anything?"

"True," agreed Faye. "Continue."

"Luigi, the explosives expert," I smiled. "He basically stayed out of Odious' life, and vice versa, until he learned of the power of Luigi's bombs and had him publicly banished, and upon his return to the city found that everyone was gone because anyone who even spoke to him would be quickly sentenced to death. At first he seemed to merely shrug this off, but when his priest wouldn't even hear his own confession, _that's_ when he had a problem."

"Fourth was Mr. Charles Darwin. You know his basics so I won't bore you there. He was the same as Luigi, paths with Odious uncrossing, until he sent Darwin the rare butterfly he had been searching for, Americana Exotica – dead and pinned to a box."

"Alright, seriously? Killing a butterfly – and a rare one at that – just to flaunt power or whatever? I'd certainly like to confront this Odious and give him a piece of my mind."

"Yes, well, let's hope that doesn't happen, okay? He's got an immeasurably large amount of guards-slash-soldiers-slash-henchmen, I mean a LOT, so the only way you'd get to him is if he _let _you get to him, and even then it'd just be a losing game of cat and mouse."

Paige shrugged. "I'd still give it a go." I rolled my eyes.

"Alright, then last but not least is the Masked Bandit," I said with a smile, but it faltered quickly as I explained. "He had a twin brother, the Blue Bandit, and not too long before the story started the two of them for some reason went their separate ways. Odious caught his brother. Of course the Masked Bandit set out to try and save him, with the help of the other four, but by the time he got there it was too late."

"That sounds like quite a team," Faye remarked after a small spell of silence.

"A wicked awesome one, that's for sure," I agreed. "That'd be so cool if they just randomly rode past here or something."

"I dunno, at this rate anything's possible," laughed Paige.

"Indeed," I sighed, resting my head against the trunk of the tree. Somehow by making contact with it I had a feeling of ease, of peacefulness, and I smiled to myself knowing that this was indeed the tree that the old man had come from, the old man that led the five heroes to Odious… All of a sudden the shred of an inkling snared onto my train of thought and I rushed to my feet, scanning and surveying the tree so intently my nose was getting scratched by the bark.

"August, what is it? And no rambling this time," Faye warned, and I stepped away from it with a joyous laugh, whisking off my mask.

"Okay, so there's this tree the five find, and it explodes and this man steps out and guides them to Odious-slash-where the Masked Bandit's brother was being kept so they could save him. The tree hasn't exploded! It's in one piece!"

"Which means what?!" Faye nearly shrieked.

"The five still have to come past! They could come and save us at any moment!" I squealed, my grin slowly mirroring upon Faye and Paige's faces when mine suddenly dropped like a stone.

"Oh no."

"What now?" Paige groaned, and I pointed at the hill behind them, at three fast-approaching black dots.

"Odious' men. They've found us. We're caught."

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mwahahaha! Cliffhanger!! Keep checkin in... thanks!


	3. Caught

I didn't have to glance at my friends to see the blend of determination and anxiety upon their faces; I could feel it in the air around me.

"So what do we do?" Paige asked in a level voice, stern and preparing.

"I don't know," I replied quietly. "We're unarmed and look helpless enough, so they shouldn't kill us on sight."

"Oh, cos a drawn out death is the better option of the two," Faye shot in sarcastically.

"Shush! Not helping," I retorted. Think, August, think… "Okay, I'm very very sure that they're very very thick, so outsmarting them shouldn't be hard. I'm confident they'll let us live. They'll threaten, but we'll live. Maybe…"

"Maybe what?" Faye pressed, then catching my uneased face deadpanned "No, nuh-uh, not a chance."

"What?" demanded Paige angrily.

"She wants to somehow use Odious as a get-out-of-jail-free card! Use him as parlay or whatever," she explained heatedly.

"But what other choice have we got?" I tried to reason. "We'll die if we stay here and we'll die if we resist. At least with Odious we've got a chance. It's not a good one, but a chance is a chance."

For a moment Faye merely glowered at me, perhaps to try and scare me I don't know, but then with great reluctance shrugged.

"If we die, on our roller coaster ride to Hell I'm pushing you out."

"Deal," I nodded quickly, tucking my mask into my back pocket to keep out of sight as best as possible, then before she had a chance to change her mind I loped towards the Black Soldiers a few steps and raised my arms, as an attention-getter or a flag of surrender I wasn't sure, nor did I think it mattered. Not too much, anyways.

Immediately there was a change in their stride. Their grip on their reins tensed briefly, making their horses stumble at skitter down the crumbling knoll, but by the time the slope leveled out they had regained their composure and strode towards us with renewed authority.

"Help! We've been left stranded here! No shelter! Please!" I exclaimed as they came within earshot. I could just _feel_ Faye rolling her eyes at me, but it was the best I could think of. "Help us! Safety! Shelter!" – I inwardly crossed my fingers for luck – "Odious! Odious help! Odious save! Please!" Please!

The mentioning of their keeper seemed to throw them off guard, as they quickly steered their horses closer to converse in low fervent growls, leaving us to stand with bated breath. Take us alive, I begged in my head. Take us alive…

One of the flanking soldiers dismounted heavily, walking up to me noisily before roughly grabbing my arm and towing me to a horse and awkwardly pushing me up to perch upon the hindquarters and to hold onto nothing but the soldier. I opted for his armor.

Directly after the soldier repeated this process with Faye, then Paige, before clambering ungracefully back onto his horse when the three soldiers all kicked their mounts into a sharp gallop, forcing us to cling to whatever was beneath our fingers. We were safe now, I told myself. Odious would primp and pamper us as guests, then when word of the Masked Bandit creeping through his palace halls sounded we would scarper and run off with them. Surely it would be somewhat as easy as it sounded?

We bounded over another hill and I refreshed my grip. But what if it wasn't? What if Odious made us his slaves, or had us killed? But we weren't important enough for that. Yet… surely we wouldn't be brought to Odious just to be killed? If that were the case the soldiers could have left us for dead where we came. We weren't tied up or latched to anything, so the soldiers must be smart enough to know we weren't so thick as to think of sliding off at any point of the trip.

I cast quick glances at Faye and Paige. They knew nothing of the story so they had no choice but to place complete faith in me. I hoped they weren't wrong in doing so.

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**sorry for the lacking length... I was getting nudged to post, so this was the result. I'm seeing the movie again tomorrow, so hopefully things will go along more swiftly and smoothly from here on out :)**


	4. The Govenator

**Sorry for the horrendously lacking length... next chapter's a bit better, and the one after that things start getting rather interesting...**

Having been beaten into a mind and body-numbing lull we spent our first few moments of looking at the palace through a haze of thickness and flickering eyelids. At first I was convinced it was the Taj Mahal, what with the pointed arches and onion domes topping thick spires, but it was only a relative replica. Small oases started to spatter across the white sand, thickening to tamed pools and bright flowers the nearer to the palace we came, the grass roots knitting together to become stable land. It was the galloping over this terrain that jerked me to my senses and trains of thought into proper place, and I began to fret anew that we were about to come face to face with Governor Odious, and not necessarily leave his presence alive.

In no time at all we made it to the flat marble plinth before the wide staircase, dismounting at the base and jogging to keep up with the soldiers as they effortlessly bounded up into the entrance hall. We had no time to gawk, for we were quickly rushed down the line through room after grand room, not crossing paths with anyone until the fifth foyer. The sunlight seeping through the archways lit upon his striped silk coat and slicked-back hair, making him glow like fire as he passed without seeing us, until one of the soldiers let out what sounded like a strangled and frantic dog bark, and only then did he acknowledge our presence.

"What do you want?" he snapped at them, his handsome face contorting into a more hideous likeness – until he saw us.

"Ah, please, forgive my brashness," he said correctively, his words almost a purr, his eyes looking us up and down. "It has been a long day and has worn at my temper, and I have apparently forgotten how to treat guests. Who are you and how did my men come to find you?"

"I'm Augustine, this is Faye, and this is Paige," I said before either of them could open their mouths. "We somehow awoke in the desert. Don't know how we got there or where we were before. Your men found us there."

"Really," he chuckled in surprise, crossing his arms to betray his disbelief. "No idea whatsoever?"

I shook my head. "None at all. We thought we might have been drugged or something, but there's no way we can find out."

"Quite true," he agreed ruefully. "That is quite a shame, though. But, on the other hand, it's a good thing we found you. A very good thing."

"Why?" I asked slowly, feeling nervous.

"You weren't found by the Masked Bandit first!" he exclaimed, then continued at my startled look. "The Masked Bandit? The scourge of the south east?" He paused for a moment, then a smile slowly spread across his face. "Ah, but I forgot. The Masked Bandit as been caught and exiled to Butterfly Reef, left to survive against my other captives. But no worry! The sands of India swarm with ruffian spawn all the same, so it's lucky we found you before they did."

"I should say so," I laughed nervously, and he smiled, a grand and rich smile that gave me shivers.

"Well," he picked up after a brief pause, making all three of us jump as he clapped his hands. "I wonder, would you ladies do me the honor of being my guests? Seeing as you've nowhere else to go, anyways. Food, board, clothing, anything you wish at your disposal. What do you say?" he asked, making his words sound more like a statement than an offer.

"Your generosity is greatly appreciated," I replied. "And if it is not too much trouble we would like to take you up on your offer."

"No trouble whatsoever! Wonderful!" He clapped his hands sharply twice and a young woman dashed forth from the shadows.

"Take these ladies and get them settled in," he told her. "Our nicest rooms," he added with a wink in our general direction. The woman bowed deeply and started walking, and hesitantly we followed. _Alright_, I thought to myself with a heavy sigh. _So far so good. Not dead_—

"Excuse me, sir?" Paige called out to the man as he resumed walking away.

--_Yet_.

"Yes, dear?" he replied, stopping briefly and turning on his heel to face us.

"Not trying to sound rude or anything, but who are you?"

He gave us his wide grin again, and this time I barely succeeded in fighting back the shudder. "Why I am Odious. Governor Odious. See you soon," and with a little nod continued on his way.

**Reviews? Yes? I'll return the favor... promise!!**


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